January 10, 2012

Dear Friends,

Word has been received in the synod office of the death of the Reverend Leon O. Holtan, 95, on Wednesday, January 4, 2012. A memorial service will be held at West St. Olaf Lutheran Church, 70640 260th Ave, Hayfield, Minnesota on Friday, January 13th at 11:00 a.m. with visitation one hour prior to the service. Burial will be in the West St. Olaf Cemetery.

Leon Holtan was a teacher and farmer when he answered the call to ministry. He attended St. Olaf College and Luther Seminary and was ordained in 1952. Leon served congregations in Clinton, Minnesota; Bethlehem in Lanesboro; Union Prairie in Lanesboro and Plano, Illinois. He retired in 1982.

Pastor Holtan was preceded in death by a son and his wife Alice who died in 2007. He is survived by two daughters and one son; 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Online condolences may be made at www.dibblefuneralhome.com.

Leon was proud of his Norwegian heritage and spoke the language fluently. In his retirement years he used his Norwegian skills to conduct church services, translate church history and teach community education classes.

During this season of Epiphany we take comfort in God’s promises to us in our baptism and remember Martin Luther’s words about the significance of “such a baptism with water”:

It signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and dies through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Saint Paul says in Romans 6, “We have been buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
(Luther’s Small Catechism, Augsburg Fortress 2008)

We give thanks for the life and ministry of Leon Holtan.

Shalom,

Harold Usgaard
Bishop